A Tip from the Authors of Unix Unleashed

A Tip from the Authors of Unix Unleashed

Introduction

Administering a system is complicated. Administering a system with users is
even more complicated. By sharing system access, the sysadmin is sharing some
small portion of control with users. Users normally authenticate themselves to
the system with passwords. While the sysadmin can constrain what a user does on
the system, the disposition of the password is completely in the control of the
user.

In a large organization, password issues probably comprise the greatest
source of both user support issues (when users lose passwords) and security
problems (when someone else finds them). It's worth some serious effort on
the sysadmin's part to establish guidelines for handling passwords and to
educate users in good password management. This article is intended for the
sysadmin trying to establish such guidelines among the users.